The condition occurs when the placenta surrounding a fetus attaches too deeply to a woman's uterus. During delivery, the placenta can pull out parts of the uterine wall, rupturing blood vessels and putting the mother at risk of severe hemorrhaging.

"Due to the increase in cesarean sections and other surgeries that leave scarring on the uterine wall, coupled with women giving birth later in life, the incidence of accreta has increased dramatically over the past 20 years," lead researcher Dr. Reena Malhotra, a radiologist at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, said in a news release.

In this study, Malhotra and colleagues compared MRI findings and surgical and/or pathology results from 71 women who underwent MRI after a suspicious prenatal ultrasound or clinical examination or because they had significant risk factors for placenta accreta.

The researchers found that MRI was 90.1% accurate in detecting the presence of accreta.